Ideal speaking length of A-0

[Farrell]

> And beyond that I'll once again be doing my all-day seminar on how the piano
> works at the coming Convention in Dallas. This will be one of the topics
> discussed and illustrated.

Well, thar ya go Brian. Seems to me you gotta go now. Shall I save a seat in the Lincoln for you? Air suspension and 570 Watts RMS. You can bring a CD or two of your New Orleans jazz stuff - that ought to wake me up! We'll be coming by Slidell Tuesday afternoon. You game?

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Delwin D Fandrich" <pianobuilders@olynet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: Ideal speaking length of A-0


> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brian Trout" <brian_trout@hotmail.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: February 22, 2003 3:37 PM
> Subject: Ideal speaking length of A-0
> 
> 
> > What is the ideal SPEAKING length of A-0, or whatever you choose to call
> > that lowest string in the scale?
> 
> That depends on the length of the piano.
> 
> 
> >
> > Another tech and I were discussing this and he was of the opinion that it
> is
> > desirable to have the longest speaking length possible.
> 
> And most of the early piano designers would have agreed with him. And it is
> one of the reasons why the low bass in most small pianos sounds so bad.
> 
> 
> >
> > My question is, if one were able to move that bridge out into the
> soundboard
> > as far as you wanted to, where would it cease to be a good thing to
> shorten
> > the speaking length any further?  When moving the bridges out into the
> > soundboard, how far is too far?  At what point would you be harming the
> > quality of the sound as opposed to improving it?  How much tail length is
> > enough?  Would there be any relationship between the backscale length and
> > the speaking length?  (a ratio, perhaps?)
> 
> It is a complex question and there is no simple, easy answer. Our practice
> in remanufacturing work is to move the bridge forward as far as practical
> without grinding too much iron off of the plate. I haven't seen an existing
> piano yet in which this would be too far.
> 
> Beyond this it will take a feature-length article or two to fully explore
> the question fully. (I'm working on one, but don't know yet when or if I'll
> try to have it published.) And I'm not up to going into the whole question
> here. Beyond what I've already written, that is. Check the archives.
> 
> And beyond that I'll once again be doing my all-day seminar on how the piano
> works at the coming Convention in Dallas. This will be one of the topics
> discussed and illustrated.
> 
> Del
> 
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